Right now they are demolishing the aircrafts on the field of Khodynka where they have been standing for many years as a part of the aviation museum exposition. Moscow citizens know this place well, they could come here, see various helicopters and fighters, even climb on them. Today, with no preliminary declaration of war, there came machines to demolish everything there.

It says “Attention! The territory is guarded. No entry.” Though nearby is a hole one can get through.

This mechanism resembles an excavator. But instead of a bucket it has huge hydraulic cutters. It has an inscription: “AviaVtorResusrs. Utilization of aerotechnics”. There is no doubt about its functions. Next to the machine we can notice a pile of metal scrap and ramins of a helicopter engine.

You’d think. We have this L-29 lot maiden sitting out here rotting in Southern Oregon. Made some money for the former Soviet Block country that sold it and saved them the disposal costs. It’s known best on the field for being an excellent multi-apartment paperwasp condo.

I hate to see aircraft scrapped. And I hate to see socially-benificial museums traded for tacky shopping malls. They are just temples to consumerism. But that location has become a dump, and commerce will win the battle with good intentions every time.

I imagine someone is finally getting around to recycling the massive amount of abandoned and derelict Soviet hardware. They probably said “We need to start scrapping any planes that we don’t plan to sell or use, starting with the Capital” without realizing there were other plans for this location. And once an order like that goes out, it’s probably difficult to quickly get in contact with someone at a high enough level to make an exception.